1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire assembly producing method and a terminal connected wire inserting apparatus and, particularly to a wire assembly producing method and a terminal connected wire inserting apparatus for the automatic insertion of terminals connected with wires which will construct a wiring harness and a sub-assembly of the wiring harness (hereinafter, "wire bundle assembly") of an automotive vehicle, a copier or other applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Automatic production of a wire bundle assembly typically involves a terminal-connected wire producing process and a connecting process. The terminal connecting wire producing process includes a wire cutting step of measuring and cutting a wire, a peeling step of peeling an insulation coating at the opposite ends of the cut wire and a terminal mounting step of mounting terminals on the peeled opposite ends of the wire. The connecting process includes inserting the terminals of the terminal connected wires produced by the producing process into a connector housing.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. (SHO)57-170409, (SHO)58-25014, (HEI)5-234659 and (HEI)6-260260 disclose an automatic production system including all of a wire cutting station for performing the wire cutting step, a peeling station for performing the peeling step, a terminal mounting station for performing the terminal mounting step and a connecting station for performing the inserting or connecting process.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. (HEI)6-223646 discloses a construction in which the producing process and the inserting or connecting process are separated. In this construction, the producing process is performed by an automatic production system to produce terminal connected wires, the produced terminal connected wires are placed on a stock carriage, and the inserting or connecting process is manually performed. Further, this production system has two separate lines: a line for mounting standardized terminals and a special mounting line (e.g. in the case that terminals of special sizes are mounted or the same terminal is mounted on a plurality of wires).
The aforementioned prior art production systems in which the producing process and the inserting or connecting process are performed in the same line have several problems. For example, the inserting or connecting process typically takes a longer time than the producing process. Thus the production performance of the wire bundle assembly is restricted by the inserting or connecting process. Further, the kinds of terminals to be mounted in the same line are limited. Therefore the insertion of a multitude of kinds of terminals into the connector housing cannot be met by simply replacing an apparatus used in the inserting or connecting process.
Prior art systems in which the producing process and the inserting connecting process are performed in separate lines also have problems. For example, it is difficult to transfer terminals to an inserting unit with the terminals of the terminal-connected wires already mounted. This makes it difficult to realize automation. Accordingly, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. (HEI)6-223646, an undesirable compromise of manually mounting the terminals into the connector housing needs to be made.
The present invention was developed in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a wire assembly producing method and a terminal connected wire inserting apparatus which facilitate automation.